The Bible Says
Job 41:1-11 Meaning

God’s crowning illustration for Job to ponder is the Leviathan: an enormous animal which humans cannot catch or conquer. If humans cannot master the Leviathan, what can they say to the One who created it?

In Job 41:1-11, God introduces Leviathan, the second creature who will demonstrate that Job lacks the power and authority to tame a mere beast, demonstrating that by no means can he begin to have the power and authority to challenge God.

God begins by confronting Job, asking a series of rhetorical questions that anticipate the answer “No.”

• “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook? Or press down his tongue with a cord?” (v. 1).

The inference is that Job would know there is no way he can draw out Leviathan with a fishhook. The inference is that this would be folly. To attempt to put a cord or rope in Leviathan’s jaw to tame him would not turn out well.

• “Can you put a rope in his nose Or pierce his jaw with a hook?” (v. 2).

A rope in the nose evokes leading an animal, turning it, training it—making it go where you want. To pierce the jaw suggests taming and gaining mastery. Again, the inference is that in no way can Job do this. The implication is clear; if Job cannot even halter a creature, how can he halter providence? God began this section by asking:

"Will you really annul My judgment? Will you condemn Me that you may be justified?”
(Job 40:8)

God is demonstrating to Job that he cannot tame and master an earthly creation in order to emphasize that Job is not remotely near to having the authority and power to challenge God by imposing a standard upon Him. Job revered God, and saw Him as the ultimate judge (Job 23:7). But he thought God was missing some perspective and would therefore amend His ways if Job could fill Him in.

Although Job spoke rightly of God, as we will find in Job 42:7-8, he did not properly understand God’s intimate involvement with him, nor His ultimate benevolence that went far beyond Job’s capacity to comprehend.

• “Will he make many supplications to you, Or will he speak to you soft words?” (v. 3).

Again, the expected answer is “No.” Leviathan will not beg, plead, or negotiate (make supplications). There are no soft words that will make this creature safe. Leviathan cannot be mastered by a fragile human. If a creature will not submit to Job, why would he think the creature’s creator would?

• “Will he make a covenant with you? Will you take him for a servant forever?” (v. 4).

A servant forever is a bond-servant that desires to remain indentured indefinitely. In the Old Testament, servitude among the Hebrews was limited to six years (Exodus 21:2, Deutronomy 15:12). But if a servant voluntarily chose to remain permanently after the seventh year, saying “I love my master” then they would make a covenant for the servant to remain forever (Exodus 21:21:5-6). The idea here might be God asking, “Will the Leviathan say, ‘I love you and want to serve you?’” Clearly the expected answer is “No.”

• “Will you play with him as with a bird, Or will you bind him for your maidens?” (v. 5).

“Will Leviathan be your pet?” This now begins to approach the absurd, and the clear answer is “No.” This creature will not be captured by Job, will not agree to serve Job, and will not be a pet for Job’s zoo; he will not be bound for your maidens to play with. The inference is plain, if Leviathan, a mere creature will not subordinate to Job, why would he expect Leviathan’s creator to do so?

• “Will the traders bargain over him? Will they divide him among the merchants?” (v. 6).

Can Leviathan be turned into profit, cut up, sold off, distributed like goods in a marketplace? The clear answer is “No.” Since Leviathan cannot be caught, neither can he be cut up and sold for meat or as a novelty.

• “Can you fill his skin with harpoons, Or his head with fishing spears?” (v. 7).

Again, the expected answer is “No.” The inference is that Leviathan has scales or protective armor that makes it impervious to harpoons or fishing spears. God moves from rhetorical questions to a rhetorical warning, saying to Job: “Lay your hand on him; Remember the battle; you will not do it again!” (v. 8).

It is as if God says, “Go ahead—try it once. You will remember it for the rest of your life and never do it again.” The point is that a battle with Leviathan was not something the men of that day could win. Leviathan could not be captured. If anyone attempted to capture such an animal, should they survive, they would never forget how impossible and dangerous the experience was.

We do not know the nature of this creature, Leviathan. It could be now extinct. Given human tendencies, as men advanced in their weaponry and technique, we can certainly imagine them taking up the challenge and banding together to kill off all such creatures. But we do not need to know the creature to get the point; if Job tries to do battle with this creature, he will be sorry!

God states the inevitable outcome of choosing to contend with Leviathan: “Behold, your expectation is false; Will you be laid low even at the sight of him?” (v. 9).

This verse tells us that it is useless to try to capture Leviathan. Anyone getting close enough will be overwhelmed by the sight of him. The very hope of capturing Leviathan is a lie. And before you even touch him, you may collapse simply by seeing what you are dealing with. We can recall in Job 23 that Job had an anticipation of facing off with God,

"I would present my case before Him
And fill my mouth with arguments.
"I would learn the words which He would answer,
And perceive what He would say to me.”
(Job 23:4-5)

This is Job’s anticipation of having his day in court with God. And he expected to prevail:

"Would He contend with me by the greatness of His power?
No, surely He would pay attention to me.
"There the upright would reason with Him;
And I would be delivered forever from my Judge.”
(Job 23:6-7)

Job is fearful but excited to “face off” with God, and expected to win. But it is a vain hope. If a would-be captor of Leviathan cannot endure the mere sight of such a creature, then certainly no human could endure the sight of God Himself. This story likely predates Moses by many centuries, but Moses will later record God saying, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” (Exodus 33:20).

God now compares Himself to Leviathan, and gives Job the grim reality that he would have a much better chance with Leviathan: “No one is so fierce that he dares to arouse him; Who then is he that can stand before Me?” (v. 10).

The logic is direct: if Leviathan is too fierce to face, how much more the Creator who made him? Job asked for a hearing; he is in the midst of one. But it has not gone like he imagined.

Leviathan, whom God created, speaks of Him, as does all His creation (Psalm 19:1-4). Job spoke as though he could stand before God to properly inform God so that He could alter His plan and restore justice. But this grossly misunderstands God.

It is important to consider that in the next chapter, God will assert that Job spoke rightly of God while Eliphaz and his two friends did not (Job 42:7-8). Job persisted in recognizing God’s sovereignty and right to rule (Job 1:20-22). He did not question God’s authority.

But he misunderstood God as being distant and lacking perspective. What is being straightened out for Job is for Job to know that God is close, intimately involved with Job and all His creation, and God’s perspective is infinite. Job will learn that God is actually providing him a great blessing through this trial, as promised in James 1:2-3, 12.

A battle of perspectives with God is like trying to tame Leviathan: futile. Further, Job will learn that God’s benevolence is beyond his grasp. God is actually blessing Job greatly through the trial, as Job will learn.

We can make application that no one can stand before God in self-righteousness (Psalm 130:3). This is why Jesus paid our ransom with His blood, that we might be justified by God’s grace (Romans 3:24-25).  However, amazingly, through Christ, believers can “have confidence to enter the holy place”  (Hebrews 10:19). In entering God’s presence through Christ, we can have “our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience” (Hebrews 10:22). We cannot approach God on our own, but we can approach Him through the provision He gave us in Himself.

Finally, God declares the moral foundation beneath all of it: “Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine” (v. 11).

This dismantles entitlement at the root. God owes no creature anything as a debt. Everything already belongs to Him. This verse is quoted in Romans 11:

“Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again?”
(Romans 11:35)

The context of Romans 11 is Paul highlighting the paradoxical actions of God in bringing about salvation to the Gentiles through the rejection by the Jews. Romans 11 asserts that God will use this sorrowful situation to bring the Jews salvation and glory. The verse prior to Romans 11:35 is a quote from Isaiah 40:13: “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? (Romans 11:34).

Paul’s summary of these two Old Testament verses is:

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”
(Romans 11:33)

Paul had his own “Job experience” on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-19). But it seems apparent that he learned the same lesson as Job, and even quoted Job to convey that reality.

In God’s original design, humans were supposed to have dominion over all sea creatures (Psalm 8:6-8). But the dominion God gave humans originally is not our current state (Hebrews 2:8). The current world is fallen. After the flood, God put the fear of humans into animals, putting them at enmity with people (Genesis 9:2). We might think of Leviathan as a pinnacle of this enmity.

But God still has dominion over all things. In the New Testament, Jesus repeatedly demonstrates this same dominion when He commands the sea (Mark 4:39) and overrules the powers that terrify humans (Luke 8:25, 8:28-35). And through the “suffering of death,” Jesus restored the right of humans to have dominion once again, to lead through serving even as He did and does (for more, see our article “Why Did God Create Humanity, and What is Our Divine Purpose?”).